I’m a WASP. At least, I was born one. I’m as White Anglo Saxon Protestant as they come. My entire patrilineal heritage draws from England and Scotland. My mother’s side is German and Norwegian. And of course I was raised in a good protestant home.

But I heard a great line in a movie nearly 30 years ago that’s stuck with me ever since. It struck me as very true then, just as it does now. It’s from the movie Wall Street, and anti-hero Gordon Gekko reveals his disgust and incomprehension at the elite white extremely rich class he has bought himself into: “That’s the thing about WASPs. They love animals, but they can’t stand people.”

That phrase has been on my mind of late as I’ve witnessed the completely predictable head fake conducted by the media on the Planned Barrenhood expose. Since the leftist media will do everything in their power to protect one of their most sacred shibboleths – abortion – they had to find a titillating, emotion-filled story to distract as many people as possible. Since Americans have a fascination with furry animals, this story of Cecil the Lion was perfect to their ends. So they picked their target, framed, froze it, and whipped up fury to destroy it. Meanwhile, Planned Butcherhood continues to sell murdered baby parts for profit every day.

I’m a hunter, though I haven’t been the past couple of years. I have no problem shooting a “defenseless” animal. I do find it a bit gruesome and unfortunate that this hunter was so inaccurate that he left an animal to suffer for days before finishing him off, but that can occasionally happen to even the best, most careful hunter. I feel not even the slightest outrage over the death of Cecil the Lion. It may have been a “canned” hunt – I have no idea – but a lion is a deadly animal. It’s not a deer. Millions of people outraged over this lion and ready to literally kill the poor dentist who shot him couldn’t spare a tear over the hamburger they had for lunch nor the baby being ripped apart, dying in agony down the street. To me, it’s a huge indictment of the moral inversion that has afflicted this nation over the past several decades and a dark portent for the future.

There is a healthy and an unhealthy love of animals: and the nearest definition of the difference is that the unhealthy love of animals is serious. I am quite prepared to love a rhinoceros, with reasonable precautions: he is, doubtless, a delightful father to the young rhinoceroses. But I will not promise not to laugh at a rhinoceros. . . . I will not worship an animal. That is, I will not take an animal quite seriously: and I know why.

Wherever there is Animal Worship there is Human Sacrifice. That is, both symbolically and literally, a real truth of historical experience.

That is very true. I’ve been reading Jeremias, Baruch, and Lamentations recently. These prophets decried the faithlessness of the Israelis in their adoption of satanic pagan religions. These religions featured animal worship, and they also featured human sacrifice. The Jews, God’s chosen, given incredible Grace and all Truth necessary for them to lead moral, upright lives, had forsaken their birthright and allowed their own infant children to be burned to death as an offering to an angry, threatening Ba’al. This rejection of God and their covenant went on for decades, generations. Prophets were sent to turn them from their path of self-destruction, but in their pride and idiocy the Israelis would not convert. So, God punished them, allowing all Israel to be conquered and dispersing the 12 tribes around the world. 10 of those tribes vanished forever.

The outrage over the death of Cecil the Lion and the cold indifference towards the butchery of Planned Barrenhood has disheartened me. I’m not altogether surprised, but it is still disappointing to see. This outrage may not signal outright animal worship, but how many adherents to the silly neo-pagan environmental Gaia-worship are very far away from that? How many “ethicists” are out there proclaiming that its perfectly acceptable for parents to be able to murder a 5 year old, but it is morally questionable to eat a kernel of wheat (plants have feelings, too, you know!) and absolutely abhorrent to step on an ant. Even so-called Catholic women religious go out into the forest and enact wiccan nature worship. We perhaps are not as far from animal worship as we think we are.

I’ll admit, I’ve developed a bit of a coarse attitude towards animals, despite having a house full of them (2 dogs, 1 cat, 2 cockatiels, a leopard lizard, 30 odd chickens, and periodic insects, snakes, and lizards). I used to be a person who thought of my dog as almost a member of the family, and then I had kids. The depth of attachment for my kids made anything I had ever felt for animals simply pale in comparison. There is no comparison. And ever since, while I pet my dog (not the other one) more than anyone else and make sure all the other animals are attended to, I could take them or leave them, honestly. Maybe my heart’s a bit hard towards Cecil, but I just do not get it. I do not get the outrage, I do not get this thing that’s developed in our culture where we have to have weekly targets for our two minutes hate. It says to me a lot of people (I think, mostly progressives) are miserable and looking for some outlet, any outlet on which to vent their pent up bile. Next week it will be someone else. And a lot of those targets are good Christians, who just happen to hold beliefs the progressive left now finds conveniently abhorrent.

Does not the stage seem increasingly set for a charismatic demagogue to sweep in and take over? Oh………

Holy Father stresses God’s infinite love, not excommunication, today at his first general audience after a July break

Pope Francis today renewed hope for Catholics who remarry by stressing that they are ‘not by any means excommunicated’ from the Church. [Did someone say they were? Remaining in public mortal sin/unable to receive the Blessed Sacrament validly and being excommunicated are two different things.]

The Pope said that while the Church knows well that such a situation—when a Catholic who is not a widow or widower remarries—contradicts the Christian Sacrament, there are no closed doors in the house of the father and that the Church is always looking with the ‘heart of a mother’ to seek out the good for people. [I still find this kind of language vague and disheartening, because it always puts the shoe on the wrong foot – it is not the Church that closes doors to Grace or God, but people do so by their very sins. Pretending that it is somehow the Church that is doing so sends completely the wrong message, and seems to argue that the sins themselves don’t matter, it’s the Church that must somehow find a way to accommodate the sinner, not the other way around]

The Pope made the comment when speaking at the Vatican during his first general audience since a summer break in July.

“How can we recommend to these parents to do all [they can] to educate their children in the Christian life, giving them the example of a sure and practiced faith, if we put them at a distance from the life of the community, as if they might have been excommunicated?” he reasoned. [Is this not a very leading statement? Does this not seem to say…..things are going to change!]

“These persons are not by any means excommunicated,” he said, ahead of the October Synod on the Family

The Church, the Pope said, is a place were no one is excluded from infinite love. [And they can still buy dishwashers. This kind of vague statement, again, in the present-day context, is easily interpreted to mean “things have changed, sin doesn’t count, all are welcome, etc” And we know how well that’s worked over the past 50 years]

However, it should be noted with care that the Pope, apparently for the first time in these discussions initiated by himself, expressly mentioned in the Italian text of the Audience, an open reference to John Paul II’s Familiaris Consortio84. It is precisely FC 84 that includes the essential teaching on the matter, following unchanging Catholic doctrine…….[follows excerpt that defines second marriages without annulment of the first as invalid and constituting adultery/fornication. Also makes clear that those who become involved in adulterous “unions” can only receive forgiveness and the Blessed Sacrament if they break off their adulterous union, first, or at least live in a chaste manner if children are involved]

So it does seem that the Pope might be preparing the ground for a turnaround on expectations on what is actually possible: that is, welcoming couples, but not changing doctrine at all, and certainly not regarding the Sacraments of Penance and Eucharist.

Here is the statement touching on Familiaris Consortio:

The Church knows well that such a situation contradicts the Christian Sacrament. However, her look of teacher draws always from her heart of mother; a heart that, animated by the Holy Spirit, always seeks the good and salvation of persons. See why she feels the duty, “for the sake of truth,” to “exercise careful discernment.” Saint John Paul II expressed himself thus in the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris consortio (n. 84), pointing out, for instance, the difference between one who has suffered the separation and one who has caused it. This discernment must be made.

To what end? Does it make a difference if the person who remarried civilly after a divorce was the one who was abandoned, or the abandoner? Will the former receive more special consideration than the latter? What if the latter repents, leaves his second “spouse,” and returns to the Sacraments? This opens a whole can of worms.

He then follows with an exhortation to be extra-charitable to the children of these failed unions. Certainly all should be treated with charity – is it common that people are just rejected wholesale and thown out of post-conciliar parishes?!? – but I don’t know that children of failed marriage should be given better treatment than those from stable marriages? That’s actually a difficult question – I’m not being obtuse – how to weigh that kind of pastoral treatment. Yes those children are very damaged and do need special consideration, but at the same time, that consideration should not come at the expense of children who are not so afflicted.

Pope Francis also says the Church has done a pretty good job of being “attentive” to these kinds of concerns in recent decades. So I’m not entirely certain what the point of bringing all this up is, except to say “keep doing a good job?” But has the Church done a good job on the subject of divorce, or has there been a great deal of go along to get along indifference?

More statements about not being excommunicated and “no closed doors, no closed doors!” follow. What never does get said, however, is that these souls are in very grave danger and that they must cease these adulterous post-marital “unions.” And I think that’s my big beef – all these feel good statements have the effect of not only sort of confirming them where they are at, but assuaging any guilt that may remain over their objectively immoral (sinful) actions. I don’t hear repentance, change of heart, or conversion being preached. I hear vague statements about welcoming and appreciating those persisting in manifest grave sin. A slight reference to Familiaris Consortio does not, to me, significantly alter the rhetorical arc this pontificate has followed since its inception.

But there’s even more – like so much conciliar and post-conciliar rhetoric, even the ostensibly strongly orthodox Familiaris Consortio #84 quoted shows elements of two different and competing visions, to wit:

Pastors must know that, for the sake of truth, they are obliged to exercise careful discernment of situations. There is in fact a difference between those who have sincerely tried to save their first marriage and have been unjustly abandoned, and those who through their own grave fault have destroyed a canonically valid marriage. Finally, there are those who have entered into a second union for the sake of the children’s upbringing, and who are sometimes subjectively certain in conscience that their previous and irreparably destroyed marriage had never been valid.

However, the Church reaffirms her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried………Reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance which would open the way to the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who, repenting of having broken the sign of the Covenant and of fidelity to Christ, are sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage.

So, the specific reference Pope Francis seems to be making is the first, much more nebulous paragraph. So long as an adulterous union remains, I’m not sure what the point of this “discernment” would be, especially with regard to the upcoming Synod. Adulterating because your spouse did so first does not excuse the sin, nor will it serve to reconstitute an abandoned marriage.

What do you think? Is this vague reference to Familiaris Consortio a hopeful sign, as Rorate maintains, or is it something else? If the former, the implications for the upcoming Synod would be quite significant, but at this point I’m fairly dubious that’s the case. I’m afraid I’d have to see much more concrete denunciations of the sin of adulterous “remarriage” before I could feel very hopeful regarding this Synod. But, it’s possible I’ve been scandalized to the point of cynicism. That may be something many of us need to guard against.

Sorry, I tried to recycle a post from last year, updating dates and changing some other things, and WordPress just completely butchered it. I think it’s fixed now.

I do not believe that St. Maximilian Kolbe’s feast is recognized in the traditional calendar of feasts, not being canonized until 1982, but he is such a powerful Saint and intercessor! I strongly recommend devotion to the Polish German Saint and Martyr. His Feast is August 14. Start your Novena today! Saint Maximilian Kolbe is especially powerful for those struggling with addiction and as a protector of those in pro-life work.

Another suggested intention for this Novena would be to have this great Saint intercede for an end to the sufferings of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, that order founded so strongly on the charism St. Maximilian pioneered. Or at least to allow the intervention to end and for that order to flourish mightily as a result of the sufferings they are enduring.

ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE NOVENA PRAYERS

O St. Maximilian Kolbe,

faithful follower of St. Francis,

inflamed by the love of God

you dedicated your life to the practice of virtue

and to works of the apostolate.

Look down with favor upon us

who devoutly confide in your intercession, especially for:

(here mention your special requests)

Having consecrated yourself to the Immaculate Virgin Mary,

you inspired countless souls to a holy life

and various forms of the apostolate

in order to do good to others

and to spread the kingdom of God.

Obtain for us the grace by our lives and labors

to draw many souls to Christ.

In your close conformity to our Divine Savior

you reached such an intense degree of love

that you offered your life to save a fellow prisoner.

Implore God that we,

inflamed by such ardent charity,

may through our living faith and our apostolic works

witness Christ to others,

and thus merit to join you in the blessed vision of God.

Amen.

Here is the Litany of good Saint Maximilian:

P: Lord, have mercy on us ALL: Lord, have mercy on usP: Christ, have mercy on us ALL: Christ, have mercy on usP: Lord, have mercy on us ALL: Lord, have mercy on us

God, our Father in heaven, Have mercy on us
God the Son, Redeemer of the World, Have mercy on us
God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us
Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us
Immaculate Mary, Mother of the Savior, Pray for us
St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, Pray for us…

Brave Knight of the Immaculata
Heroic Son of Poland
Man of living Faith
Obedient Son of St. Francis
Poor and Humble Friar
Example of Angelic Purity
Great Lover of our Eucharistic Lord
Consecrant of Our Lady
Faithful Priest
Model of Religious Life

Servant of the Church
Marian Mystic
Zealous Missionary
Modern Evangelist
True Ecumenist
Brilliant Apologist
Christian Journalist
Educator of Youth
Promoter of the Mass Media
Spokesman of Christian Values
Defender of Human Dignity
Promoter of the Miraculous Medal
Minister of Refugees
Friend of the Homeless
Hero of Auschwitz
Victim of Violence and Hatred
Provider for the Hungry
Preacher to the Hopeless
Companion of the Imprisoned
Comforter of the Sick
Consoler of the Dying
Instrument of Peace and Reconciliation
Man for Others
Victim of Planned Extermination
Martyr of Charity
Intercessor of the Addicted
Friend to those with Eating Disorders
Protector of Family Life
Inspiration to Volunteers
Patron of Pro-life
Patron of our Difficult Age
Prophet and Sign of the Civilization of Love

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the World, Have mercy on us
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the World, Have mercy on us
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the World, Grant us peaceLET US PRAY: Merciful God, you raised up St. Maximilian Kolbe to the glory of your saints. Grant that we, through his heroic example and the powerful intercession of this Martyr of Charity, may always serve you in charity shown to our brothers and sisters. Grant the grace we need always to seek to accomplish the greatest glory of God in all that we do.P: We ask this through Christ our Lord. ALL: Amen.

Much has happened during the course of the last few weeks. First, I am most grateful to you for your cooperation and support in listening to my letter during Mass this past weekend. The decision on marriage by the U.S. Supreme Court is having real and unwelcome consequences in many areas of our daily lives and I expect that it will only get worse. If you would like to read my letter, click on this link: http://www.bismarckdiocese.com/news/letter-from-bishop-prayerful-encouragement. [This is one of the better responses from a bishop I’ve read on the diabolical Obergefell decision. That Anthony Kennedy has not been excommunicated is a scandal of the highest order.]

Second, and as expected, the Boy Scouts of America voted to admit openly gay adults into the organization to hold leadership positions. While there are indications that the BSA has a religious organization exception, which each local troop could invoke, that will provide no protection for any of our parishes and/or schools, which sponsor troops. [Whoa. That’s a most significant declaration. Does anyone versed in the law know why this might be? So what Bishop Kagan appears to be saying is that even though the troop might be able to invoke a religious exemption, merely having a Boy Scout troop present could serve as a legal precedent to force Catholic parishes and schools to admit open sodomites to various positions? That seems quite probable, and very disconcerting, considering how few dioceses are taking actions to similarly ban the Twink Scouts]Thus, effective immediately, the Catholic Church of the Diocese of Bismarck and each and every one of its parishes, schools and other institutions, is formally disaffiliated with and from the Boy Scouts of America. If your parish sponsors a troop, your priest has been asked to inform those persons associated with the BSA of this action and to inform the BSA itself of this decision. I regret my decision but, in conscience as the Chief Shepherd of the Diocese of Bismarck, I cannot permit our Catholic institutions to accept and participate directly or indirectly in any organization, which has policies and methods, which contradict the authoritative moral teachings of the Catholic Church.[Absolutely right! Finally a bit of clarity and defense of truth!]

Third, I list here for your consideration acceptable alternatives for our Catholic children and youth, should you wish to offer this in your parish and/or school. There are two very good alternatives to the Girl Scouts of America. They are: American Heritage Girls (americanheritagegirls.org), which has a National Catholic Committee; Little Flowers’ Girls Clubs (eccehomopress.com); and Federation of North American Explorers (fneexplorers.com). There are three alternatives to the Boy Scouts of America, which are acceptable. They are: Federation of North American Explorers (fneexplorers.com); Columbian Squires (kofc.org/un/en/squires); and Trail Life USA (traillifeusa.com), which has a National Catholic Committee in Front Royal, VA.

Odd that he does not list the Troops of St. George? Any idea why that might be, given that the Troops of St. George are explicitly Catholic and adhere to the onerous “safe environment” protocol? I’d be careful with American Heritage Girls and Trail Life, both are overwhelmingly evangelical and there have been reports of proselytizing and low-key persecution of Catholics who join. I have heard some good things about the North American Explorers but don’t know much about them.

God bless Bishop Kagan! May he be blessed for his recent defense of the Faith. I don’t know much about him, and I’m not sure he’s what one would consider a real hero to the Faith, but this action deserves support and recognition. Would that more bishops would exercise their leadership in this manner.

I will be praying outside The Men’s Club, 2340 W. Northwest Hwy, Dallas, on WEDNESDAY Aug 5 @ 8pm. I will actually be across the street in the parking lot of the US Post Office. This is directly across from the entrance to the inappropriately named “gentleman’s club.”

We’ve had some good turnout. I pray all of you are able to come back out this time.

The post office parking lot is well lit and set back some distance from the very busy roadway. It is public land so we cannot be harassed for being there. It’s really an ideal situation, we are basically impossible to miss by patrons leaving this sexually oriented business (SOB). Men over 18 only. All men are welcome. You don’t have to be a member of a particular parish. I will stay for at least an hour, maybe an hour and a half, depending on how many show up.

Just to be clear we have had no occasions of sin stemming from being adjacent to a strip club. We are out in public and have experienced no scandal at all to this point.

No protesting, just prayer. If we are approached by anyone associated with the SOB let one man interact with them while the rest provide prayer support.

This is a small way to push back against the culture of license, perversion, and death. Maybe it’s even a way to get that canonized “smell of the sheep” we hear so much about.

Until the eve of his presidential campaign, Jeb Bush was director of a philanthropy that gave tens of millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood and financed its advocacy of “unrestricted access to abortion” around the world. The charity also approved money to global abortion providers while he sat on its board.

In 2010, Jeb was named one of the founding directors of the Bloomberg Family Foundation, established as a tax-exempt foundation to advance the vision of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He resigned from the board at the end of 2014 to prepare his presidential campaign.

While a Bush spokesman has responded to concerns by saying that Bush would not have voted on every initiative of the foundation, a pro-life leader told LifeSiteNews it “stretches credibility” that Bush was unaware of the foundation’s pro-abortion work, given the centrality of such work to the foundation’s mission, and its scope. [It’s complete and utter garbage that he was ignorant of this. Whether Jeb Bush is pro-life is open to debate (I doubt he is pro-life as you or I would consider it, he is probably pro-life when it is politically expedient to be so). What is not open to debate is that Bloomberg is as radical a partisan of the sexular pagan agenda as one can find. Few have done more to advocate for evils like abortion, pseudo-sodo-marriage, and other perversions as he has. Bush knew this and chose to work for his organization, anyways, citing the other good it does. This only confirms the horrible formation and moral degeneracy of so many Catholics (that our bishops have allowed and even encouraged), that Bush is ignorant of the fundamental moral law, we cannot cooperate with evil that good may come of it]

LifeSiteNews reached out to Bush for comment, but did not hear back by press time.

$50 million to ‘reproductive health’ and Planned Parenthood

In March of 2014, the Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a $50 millionundertaking to expand “reproductive health,” including lobbying foreign nations to loosen restrictions on abortion.

Bloomberg announced a major partnership with Planned Parenthood-Global to train and equip abortion activists in pro-life countries. [This is so evil. It’s not just giving money to Planned Barrenhood, it’s trying to force countries to make baby-killing legal.]

There is a lot more. This is a really evil initiative by Bloomberg. Given the source, I’m not surprised he is pushing it, at all. I’m also not surprised that Bush would cooperate with it. They’re all squishes. Michael Bloomberg is a very wealthy man and could contribute many millions to a presidential campaign. So if that requires spreading abortion to reluctant countries and the deaths of millions of babies……not a tough call for Jeb, apparently.

If it came down to a choice between Hillary or Jeb, I’d stay home or write in someone.

When will our bishops start enforcing a tiny bit of Doctrine? This is solid evidence of direct cooperation in grave sin, the promotion of baby-murder. What will they not tolerate? Oh, right……..